Afghan refugees in Tajikistan eager to repatriate and rebuild

By SARAH KARUSH
Associated Press Writer

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan – The teen-agers at a school for Afghan refugees have vague memories at best of the country they fled. But their teachers here have drilled into them the lesson they did not have time to learn firsthand: Afghanistan is home.

For many of the few thousand Afghans living in neighboring Tajikistan, the former Soviet republic will never be an adopted homeland. They say they are just waiting out the war, and once it is over, they will return to rebuild Afghan society, shattered by more than two decades of conflict. Even members of a generation raised abroad say they feel a strong bond to their native country – though they can't remember what it looks like.

"We came here because it is close to Afghanistan, and as soon as there is peace, we will return to Afghanistan," said Soraya Shamj, principal of the Afghan school in Dushanbe, Tajikistan's capital. She said the school's mission is to train young people who could help fill Afghanistan's leadership void.

It seems to be working. Fourteen-year-old Shoyeb does not remember his family's home in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, which he left when he was 3 years old, but he says he wants to go back. "It is my country," he explains, shrugging as if such sentiments were commonplace for his generation.

Even in the fourth grade, where half the class sits on the floor because of a shortage of desks and chairs, the students are just as adamant. When a stranger asks how they like Tajikistan, they say it is not their country. Shamj, a stern, middle-aged pedagogue, nods approvingly.

Nearly 4 million Afghan refugees remain abroad after 20 years of war. The migration has virtually emptied Afghanistan of doctors, teachers and other professionals. But many in Dushanbe insist that they will return as soon as the shooting stops.

Mohammad Amon well remembers the night in 1997 when fighters of the then-ascendent Taliban militia dragged him from his bed in Kabul. As an officer in the previous government's army, Amon was suspected of having weapons and commanding an anti-Taliban force.

"I still have signs of the torture on my body," he said. "They whipped me continuously from 4 a.m. to 11 a.m."

A Taliban jail guard recognized Amon from his days in the Afghan army. He helped him escape, and relatives smuggled him out of the country a few days later.

Today the 35-year-old Amon works in a Dushanbe shop for $30 a month selling an odd mix of coffee, detergent and candy. He too says he would like to return to Afghanistan if there is a lasting peace.

"Why not? I have served my country, and I will serve again," he said, as he paused from counting the day's earnings at the store.

But for those ready to serve Afghanistan, a key question is still without an answer: What post-Taliban government will be created and can it keep the peace.

U.N.-sponsored talks opened Tuesday in Germany, aimed at forming a broad-based government. But refugees such as Shamj question whether the talks could produce leadership.

In the Afghan school, a picture of Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov decorates the otherwise bare walls of Shamj's office. There is no Afghan leader worth that honor, Shamj said.

"I don't know who might be able to rescue our society," she said.

Producing a person to fill that role may be a tall order for the school; its more modest aim is to produce good, educated citizens. Supported by the local Afghan community, the school provides instruction in Afghan history, English and French, as well as standard subject matter.

Classes are held in Dari, the Persian language spoken in much of Afghanistan and Tajikistan, but students learn to read and write in the Arabic alphabet used in Afghanistan instead of Tajikistan's Cyrillic.

Sayed Hoshemi, a 51-year-old psychology professor from Kabul, has been in Tajikistan for 10 years – long enough to have gotten used to the Cyrillic alphabet. He has continued his career here, treating patients and writing articles on trauma among Afghan children.

Sitting cross-legged on floor cushions in his Dushanbe apartment, Hoshemi said he still longs for home, and recent events have given him hope that he will soon be able to return.

"The international community – the United States and other countries – have realized there must be changes in Afghanistan," he said. "The path to peace is being paved."

APNP-11-28-01 0720CST